Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf celebrates his first-period goal against Ottawa in October. The Ducks captain and his teammates hope to celebrate a Pacific Division title later this month, which would make their road through the Stanley Cup playoffs a little easier.

The Ducks are trying to capture their third Pacific Division championship in franchise history. The previous two division titlists fared with very different results in the Stanley Cup playoffs as the 2006-07 club hoisted Lord Stanley’s Cup while the 2012-13 team was unceremoniously bounced in the first round by Detroit.

Winning the division, in short, does not guarantee postseason success. But the race for the Pacific carries more meaning these days because of the NHL changing to a more division-based playoff structure.

Here is a look at what the Ducks need to do win the Pacific and the meaning it carries for them as they build up to Game 1 over the next two weeks.

THE FINAL STRETCH

Entering Tuesday, the Ducks have 106 points followed by San Jose with 103 and the Kings with 94. The Ducks have seven games remaining (four at home), the Sharks have six (four at home), and the Kings have six (two at home). Each has one game remaining against the others. The Kings visit San Jose on Thursday. Anaheim plays host to San Jose on April 9 and visits the Kings on April 12.

WHO MAKES THE PLAYOFFS?

In the new format, the top three finishers in each division are guaranteed spots in the postseason. The remaining two spots are considered wild-card entries and go to the teams with the most points in each of the two conferences, regardless of division finish. The team with the conference’s most points will be the No. 1 seed and will face the wild-card team with the lowest point total, while the other division winner will face the top wild-card finisher. The second- and third-place teams in each division will play each other in the first round.

WHY IS WINNING THE PACIFIC IMPORTANT?

The Ducks are in position to win their second straight division title. If the playoffs were to start today, they would be seeded second and would draw Minnesota in the first round.

The Wild has 89 points but lost two of the three meetings with the Ducks this season and has goaltending issues with Josh Harding and Niklas Backstrom out. Young Darcy Kuemper is battling an injury and they may have to rely on one-time Ducks netminder Ilya Bryzgalov in goal.

If the Ducks let the Pacific get away, they would start with the Kings in the first playoff showdown between the Southern California teams. L.A. is not that far removed from winning it all in 2012 and still has Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Quick in goal.

Better to take their chances with Minnesota right off the bat and let the Sharks and Kings duke it out, as they did for seven tough games last spring. The Ducks would have home ice either way, but it’d be better to wait to try to beat Quick four times in the second round.

HOW CAN THE DUCKS CLINCH?

The Ducks would win if they get a combination of nine points won by them or lost by San Jose. Even if the Sharks were to win their final six games and finish with 115 points, the Ducks can go 4-2-1 and hoist another division banner because they hold the first tiebreaker for number of regulation and overtime wins (47 to 37). And if the Sharks don’t win out, Anaheim simply won’t have to do as much. If both teams win their games until the April 9 showdown, the Ducks could be in position to clinch that night.

WHAT ABOUT THE KINGS?

They’re pretty well locked into the third slot out of the Pacific. The Kings can’t catch Anaheim for first in any scenario since the Ducks already clinched the five-game season series with three wins in the first four meetings.

And reeling in the Sharks is daunting as San Jose has an 11-point edge, so the Sharks will have home ice, which decided last year’s seven-game war in L.A.’s favor.

Having said that, the Kings have eight straight wins on the road and were 14-3 in their past 17 overall until losing Monday at home to Minnesota. They will be a tough out no matter what.

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